If you follow my articles on this site, you’ll know that I hold two things ridiculously close to my heart: beat ’em ups and horror. When I stumbled upon Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe, I was quickly drawn in by its legally safe nods to popular TV, movie, and video game franchises with old school gameplay. Having released a couple months ago under the radar, I was quickly sold by the game’s brief trailer above.
The game follows the events of a zombie outbreak hitting an iteration of what I am assuming is Comic-con, with our heroes comprised of cosplayers that are outfitted like protagonists from other popular (or more obscure) gaming franchises who set out on an adventure to stop the attacking forces. Each of the characters has their own pros and cons, and will offer a slightly different experience. Options include a Link inspired swordsman, an overweight tank inspired by Shovel Knight, an Ellen Ripley/Tron Bonne-ish young lady in a mech suit (editor’s note: maybe Terra in Magitek Armor), and a small agile ninja available at the start of the game, with two unlockable combatants that resemble a lovechild of the Contra guys and Ryu and Ken of Street Fighter fame. With the exception of the unlockable characters, both of which feature primarily ranged attacks that have lengthy reload times, the characters are very accessible and can be mastered fairly easily. Each character has a standard attack combo, an evasive dash which can be followed with an attack, and a unique special move that doubles as a finisher once the proper amount of health is taken from an enemy. If you manage to chain three or more finishers together, you will earn a heath drop which is needed often.
The mechanics are explained in great detail during the opening chapter, which works as a tutorial. Once completed, the player can select from one of four starting levels. While there are more than just the four options, the remainder of the game’s 10+ levels will be based off of the order you select the chapters as well as your performance during the game. With each path opening up additional levels you may not have seen in past runs, this adds a rouge-lite feel, as a number of the boss battles and enemy placements are randomized as well.
To excel at this game, you’ll need to use the finishing move on as many enemies as possible, which will result in large amounts of gold being dropped. You’ll need to acquire the gold for multiple purposes, such as unlocking upgrades at the end of each level, purchasing additional lives in the event of a mid-mission death, and unlocking the final level of the game. The upgrades offered will include both character specific options, such as adding modifiers to the special abilities, as well as general boosts like increasing the characters’ HP. In addition to these, there are some game changing ones too; for example, Pirate will allow you to purchase any future upgrade for free at the expense of half your hit points. While the standard game isn’t overly difficult, permadeath is in place, and in the event you are defeated, you’ll either need to fork out hard earned money for an additional life or restart the game (unless you purchased one of the game saving extra lives or continues as an upgrade). If you opt to buy back into the game mid-mission, the first life will set you back $750, with each subsequent death costing more. As I stated earlier, you will also need to set aside $6,666 in order to pass the tenth stage, opening up the additional two levels to receive the good ending. This requirement puts a real risk vs reward system in place for those who wish to take on the more challenging levels.
The levels themselves are mostly riffs on popular gaming franchises depicted in the game’s unique visual style, comprised of thick outlines and muted tones, with the exception of blood and a few in game assets, like the unlockable pants. While some of the levels are easier to identify than others, one of the later boss battles is a carbon copy of the Mom battle from The Binding of Isaac; others will have you walking through the opening level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. Like the environments themselves, most of the enemies you face will be nods to popular franchises, such as Mama’s Boy, who doubles as a Friday the 13th and TBoI nod – the character will lose his mask and transform into Isaac if killed with a special. You’ll also face an ungodly hybrid of the Xenomorph and Demogorgon from Stranger Things. Regular enemies will have you facing off against Chucky, the zombie dog from Resident Evil, or the spider like creatures from The Thing. I found myself finding just as much joy in identifying where the enemies and levels originated as I did actually playing the game. The only aspect of the presentation that I found to be off was the constant barrage of sound effects emanating from the controller’s microphone. All of the characters have their own unique catchphrases, which became annoying quite early into the game, resulting in me turning off the volume in the PlayStation’s settings as this is not an option in game.
If you grow tired of the vanilla game, there is a harder difficulty which offers bets at the beginning of any level. These are modifiers that offer great rewards at the cost of upgraded enemies and a higher buy in to return to the game. Additionally, there is a survival mode, which is what you’d expect and nothing more. You can play any of the modes in couch co-op, with the only downfall being the amounts required to buy back into the game as well as earned gold being shared. That said, playing the game in co-op with a less skilled player may actually make the game more difficult, which was the case when playing with my young son. While playing solo, I was able to complete the game with a single life on my third attempt, achieving the better ending.
Like most beat ‘em ups, the title can be completed in around an hour; however, the additional characters and paths offer a fair amount of replay value. The lack of an option to keep your upgrades and play again in a New Game + setting is a bit of a letdown, but does encourage you to replay the game, tasking yourself to not purchase any upgrades, or to try out other characters. There are no collectible items to be found, but a number of trophies are there for those wishing to hunt or grind for them. I have completed the game once with each character, and thus far still have a few optional challenges to complete, as well as a few rooms I have yet to locate.
While the title does not offer many original ideas to the genre, Streets of Red The Devil’s Dare Deluxe is a beat em up worthy of any gamers collection, whether your a fan of the genre or just fan service. At the bargain price point, you have nothing to lose.
10 out of 10
Pros
- Tons of Fan Service
- Unique Mash Ups
- Fair Amount of Replay Value
Cons
- Overused Sound Effects via the Controller Speaker
- Reload Times are Overly Long
Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe was developed and published by Secret Base. It was released on PC in 2014, as well as PS4 and NS on April 12th, 2018 for $8.99. The game was not provided to us for review on PS4. For more on Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe, visit its official site.
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